STUDY GUIDE FOR MIDTERM

Concepts:

Natural Science - concrete, tangible, directly observable science, ie biology, chemistry, physics, geology

Social Science - abstract, intangible, indirect, can see the effects of, ie psychology, history, economics, political science, cultural anthropology

Queen Sociology - written in 1820 by Augustus Comic, presented the foundation for the formation of sociology, said that it needed to be created but he was not the one who was going to do it

Social Structure- building blocks of society, structurally defines the boundary of our imagination, what we believe is possible and impossible, structures ate relatively permanent and barely change, structures may change but the removal of a structure, without adequate replacement, will result in the imminent collapse of society. The removal of some structures may result is a slower collapse as strain shifts to other structural pillars

Culture- how people interpret/understand structure, also defines what we think is possible/impossible, culture is dynamic/always mutating, cultural change precipitates structural change, culture is dynamic because of interaction with other people which can lead to new ideas/concepts/movements

Culture shock = structurally familiar environment but different perception ie another country

Agency- (micro process) individual action + behavior (individual action + behavior is made up of structure + culture)

Cultural Stagnation- if culture stops changing than structure may become problematic, cultural stagnation leads to social decay (system begins to fall apart because of neglect/stop changing it)

The Sociological Imagination - the ability to question and analyze the taken for granted ways in which structure and culture impact and relation to individual action and behavior.

The Great Transformation

Division of Labor- how work is divided/assigned

Mechanical Solidarity- traditional society is run like a machine, a cog breaks down, you replace it, clear shared goal being pursued by everyone working tandem, removal of one piece will relt in immediate structural collapse, leads to explicit dependence

Group-Based Culture- mechanical solidarity leads to this, everyone works the same job, there is no conception of the individual, only the group

Organic Solidarity- modern society, hierarchical system, highly specialized jobs, distinct goals, out of sync - seemingly independent, irreplaceable, slow structural collapse, leads to hidden interdependence

The Cult of the Individual- the culture of modern society wherein people worship at the alter of themselve/the idea of individuality itself. More job specialization leads to higher sense of individuality, will begin to think of ourselves as gods

Essay Question:

Emile Durkheim’s scholarly work was focused on answering the following question: What caused the transition from traditional to modern society? Why did Durkheim seek to answer this question? What did he hope to accomplish by answering it? What factor(s) did Durkheim argue caused the transition? What do you think about his claims? Does he provide a reasonable explanation? Why or why not?

The French’s attempts at Democracy kept failing, during the 3rd revolution, Durkheim was born and he wanted to make sure this attempt succeeded. The french were unable to compromise because they didnt trust each other, this was because they were scared - of what? - societal change. To alleviate the French's fears, he sought to explain the great transformation.

Durkheim argued that the great transformation was rooted in the agricultural revolution. When people began to settle down with the domestication of plants and animals, surplus began to accumulate which caused exponential population growth, therefore when surplus began to diminish, mankind began to adapt to keep surplus and exponential growth alive. Adaptation came in the form of a specialization of labor